Hot Fiesta

Overview

Hot Fiesta will be available soon and is the latest masterpiece to come from the gaming developers at Pragmatic Play. This is one Mexican themed street party that you are invited to, and this is also a slot that has the capability for you to land some big wins. So, if you are ready to smash the pinata and down some tequila shots then read on.

Theme & Symbols

Whilst the grid set lacks a sense of personality, the confetti that rains down makes up for this as well as the grid sitting in the middle of some vibrant, brightly coloured buildings in a warm and exotic destination. In this slot you can expect to come across every Mexican cliché that you can think of, although the game does lack charm and finesse, however before you write the game off the audio-visuals are superb and make the slot. The music will get you grooving in one way or another and keep your enthusiasm upbeat.

When it comes to the symbols you should make time to have a good look at the pay table as here you will find the 11 symbols. The symbols are divided into two groups with the usual low value playing cards 10 through to Ace and there are 6 premium symbols which are perfectly in keeping with the theme and include cocktails, maracas, guitars, accordions, a señorita, and a señor. Landing five of a kind with the premium symbols will see you rewarded with 4x to 30x your stake.

Game Play

The slot plays out using 5-reels and 25 pay lines and although wins are capped at 5,000x your stake. The default return to player when you are betting without the Ante Bet feature engaged stands a little above average at 96.56%. The volatility in this slot is high which does mean that the slot can either produce fireworks or simply smoulder to nothing! It is worth remembering that Pragmatic Play has the flexible return to player option, therefore dependent on which casino you choose to play the return to player could be far lower. You do have the luxury of playing on any device which gives you the freedom to play wherever and whenever the mood takes you with bets starting from just 25p per spin up to £125 per spin and with this great range the slot is sure to appeal to a wide audience.

Features

Hot Fiesta offers many features, starting with the wild which is represented by a purple pinata and can appear on all your reels to substitute for all the symbols apart from the bonus symbol to create winning combinations. The wilds all display a random multiplier that can be x2, x3, or x5 which is then applied to the value of any winning combinations that they have helped to create. If you are lucky and have more than one wild, the wild values are added together prior to being applied to your win.
Next up is the scatters which are represented by a trio of fireworks and can land on your 1st, 3rd, and 5th reels. Landing three in the same spin activates the free spin feature and you will also win 3x your bet.

Before the feature starts, the grid of 3x3 pinatas will explode one at a time to reveal a different number which will then award you with 9 to 27 free spins.

During the free spins, all wilds that you land will remain on your screen for the entire feature, however, the wilds will shift positions on your board. Each sticky roaming wild has a random multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 and these boost any winning combination that they are part of. There are no bonus symbols available in the free spins which is a shame as it means that you cannot reactivate the feature.

There is no feature buy option available in Hot Fiesta however there is a similar feature that is referred to as the Ante Bet. The Ante Bet comes into play for an increase of 40% on each paid spin and in return you double the chances of landing three scatters and activating the free spins feature, however it is also worth noting that when you have the Ante Bet active it does decrease the return to player a little although at 96.53% it is still above average.

Conclusion

Hot Fiesta is the type of slot that will either endear you with its party atmosphere and chances to win or simply turn you off. For me this is a solid slot, but I will admit that it was the soundtrack that did it for me and between bopping around I was lucky to land a few wins. The slot ticks all the boxes and there is nothing terrible about it but for some players it may lack the excitement that they crave. When you open the slot, it does feel a little standard as if the studio could have done with a little more time to make this into something spectacular even though it is a fabulous party atmosphere.

When it comes to the gameplay, some may feel that the slot gets stuck in a rut for a lot of the time, however the wild multiplier lands quite a lot of the time on the base game which provides some thrills, but it is the sticky roaming wilds in the free spins that get the party started as they multiply and can provide some excellent wins, and this could be why the developers capped the win at 5,000x the bet. Pragmatic Play have been accused in the past of over inflating the numbers available and these never materialised therefore having released several slots recently 5,000x the bet seems to be the figure they are going with.
From a technical point of view the slot cannot be faulted however it may find it difficult to complete with the bigger and better Mexican titled slots that are available.

Maybe the best way to sum this slot up is that it is great out of the starting gate but may not hold players attention for as long as other free slots no download. Personally, I would urge players to give the slot a few spins themselves as we all prefer different things and I believe it will be a real winner with some.